The first annual FRESS Fireman’s Ball, held earlier this year in Forestburg, hosted by the Friends of the Forestburg Fire Department, raised enough funds for Forestburg to make a donation to FRESS for new wildland bunker gear, and purchase a new dynamic training tool, which firefighters made use of this past Saturday, Nov. 16, in Forestburg.
FRESS Regional Fire Chief Derek Homme says each fire department across the region will be receiving new wildland bunker gear when it arrives from the manufacturer. He says it costs about $200 per firefighter, which is substantially lower than the cost of regular bunker gear. “This way we save wear and tear on the bunker gear while keeping firefighters safe and more comfortable while fighting wildland fires,” he says.
When Homme attended the regional Fire Chief’s conference this year, along with Forestburg Chief Kevin Lunty, Captain Chad Kuefler, and Killam Chief Joe Knievel, they had the opportunity to see a piece of equipment being offered by Tactical Innovations Canada that offered multiple training opportunities for firefighters.
The equipment is a Forcible Entry Training Door that allows for fire rescue training, including entering a building through a locked door, as well as practice for basement window rescues, and more. A full weekend training session was held in Forestburg to train a member of other local fire stations to then be able to train their station’s firefighters.
The company trainer who was conducting the training session said that the FRESS crew even came up with a new training use, recreating basement window rescues with window wells in place.
The training door is also used by police in their training, and is designed and manufactured entirely in Canada.
Firefighters learned that the previous training they’d been doing using pins in the place of actual bolted locks doesn’t have as much practical use when breaching a real door.
The equipment was purchased by the Forestburg station, but will be available to any FRESS station wishing to conduct training sessions, Forestburg Fire Captain Chad Kuefler says.
The funds raised at the gala also allowed the station to repair some aging equipment and do some upgrades to other pieces.
Leslie Cholowsky
Editor